by Jim Corbett, USA TODAY Sports

by Jim Corbett, USA TODAY Sports

PHILADELPHIA -- Sure, Atlanta Falcons cornerback Asante Samuel has an ax to grind with Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid, who traded him for a seventh-round pick before the April draft.

But, boy, did Samuel take several measured shots at his embattled former coach after the Falcons, Samuel's new team, whacked Reid's lifeless Eagles, 30-17, Sunday.

"Do you all think he deserves to keep his job after that? I don't know," Samuel said. "Maybe if he had (No. 22) all that wouldn't be going on. The difference between this team and that is the coaching. We run the ball. They have a lot of issues over there."

His replacement, Todd Bowles, blitzed quarterback Matt Ryan on four of the game's first six plays. But Ryan, who threw for three touchdowns and 262 yards, stung the Eagles by hitting his first six passes, including a 15-yard touchdown to backup receiver Drew Davis against a busted coverage.

What does it say when Reid challenged his players at the bye and they responded by allowing the most points this season in their most humiliating loss?

"It's embarrassing," Eagles running back LeSean McCoy said. "For a team to put up that many points and our offense not to respond, that's embarrassing. We had no answer for them."

A state of emergency went into effect for the greater Delaware Valley region at 5 p.m. Sunday in advance of Hurricane Sandy's onset. Someone should have declared a supposedly revitalized Eagles defense a state of disaster hours earlier.

When defensive end Trent Cole had to be separated from Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez near the end of the ugly blowout, it was one of the few times an Eagles defender showed some fire.

Where was it the rest of a day that exposed the Eagles as a seemingly doomed team against the league's lone unbeaten? It was shocking that a desperate team, coming out of the bye, didn't show more heat. Or heart.

"How we played, how the game ended, I didn't see any pride," said McCoy, who caught a 7-yard touchdown from Michael Vick and rushed for another score. "I didn't see any heart."

Ryan turned Atlanta's first six possessions into three touchdowns and three Matt Bryant field goals, then parlayed them into Atlanta's seventh win in as many games.

"We didn't show up," defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins said. "We didn't play assignment sound. Whatever we could have done wrong, we pretty much did it."

The Falcons are driven to show they're better than anyone gives them credit for, and the romp against the reeling Eagles was a sign of what they learned after grinding out late wins against Carolina, Washington and Oakland before their bye.

This might have been a sign of how good the Falcons really are.

"I hope so," said Ryan, the Exton, Pa., native who had 60 friends and family members rooting him on. "In this league, it's going to be different week to week and you're going to have to win some of those tight games in the fourth quarter. One of the good things that we've done is that we've been able to do it.

"It was a little different today. But a good win."

Reid called the stinker in which the Falcons outgained the Eagles 392-270, "an embarrassing performance."

Reid was asked if the Eagles are no longer responding to his voice. Reid missed the point, saying he wasn't going to designate anyone else to give motivational speeches.

The question was more pointed, as in, does the team need to hear another voice to be successful again?

"I feel like coach still has the locker room," tight end Brent Celek said. "I feel like we as players need to execute."

There's talent. But not enough cohesion, discipline or leadership.

Rookie linebacker Mychal Kendricks was benched the first series for disciplinary reasons. Cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha didn't get a jam on explosive second-year Falcons receiver Julio Jones, who was five yards behind him on a 63-yard touchdown strike that made it 21-7 at halftime.

Reid is clearly not reaching his team if his players didn't respond coming off the bye, ruining his 13-0 post-bye record.

It was interesting when asked if it might be time to make a major shakeup by benching Vick that Reid didn't rule it out immediately as he has in the past.

"I'll go back and look at it," Reid said. "I'm not going to sit here and make decisions."

Starting rookie Nick Foles might be the only change Reid can make now to get his lifeless team's attention. If it's already not too late.